


green under a veil

by summerdayghost



Category: King Lear - Shakespeare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, First Kiss, Half-Sibling Incest, Jealousy, Pre-Canon, Sister/Sister Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:00:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25951816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerdayghost/pseuds/summerdayghost
Summary: “I envy the madwoman.”
Relationships: Edgar/Edmund (King Lear)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Rule 63 Exchange 2020





	green under a veil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reine_des_corbeaux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reine_des_corbeaux/gifts).



Gloucester had been dreaming of marrying Edmund off for a long time before she ever stepped foot into court. She could tell from the twinkle in his eye before he embraced her for the first time. He had not the look of a man examining a precious daughter, but the look of a man calculating interest rates and thinking of gold, jewels, land, livestock, and most importantly, power.

Being married off would not have been the worst fate. Ambitious women were known to hang or burn.

Yes, Edmund had always quietly thought of marriage as a less pleasant equivalent to death. She had mourned the weddings of her girlhood friends as funerals. While the lives men could lead had always fascinated her, she never held much interest in the men themselves, at least not in the same way as she observed in her peers considering that she had occasionally found joy in gawking at the catastrophes they caused. It was more apathy than misandry. Men were disgusting at worst and silly at best. As an overall class of people men might best be described as superfluous.

That being said, wives held an extraordinary amount of power. It was the kind of power that could only be held by someone believed solely to occupy a position of subservience. Many wives let this power sit unused and unnoticed, but Edmund would not be like them. She had wider agendas, and behind the right man she could conquer more than anyone would realize before it was too late.

But in this her father had rendered something lower than the bastard she had been born as. Edmund was now merely a bargaining chip, a loss of status so ruinous she would not have imagined it possible that very morning. She envisioned being a bastard socially equivalent to laying in the dirt, and Gloucester had picked up a shovel.

Perhaps this was what assured Edmund’s eternal hatred of Edgar before she even laid eyes on her elder half sister. There always would have been the struggle between legitimacy and illegitimacy, but this was a different beast. The way Gloucester’s lips curled up and his eyes blazed with pride when he spoke Edgar’s name told Edmund two things. The first was that the concept of sending Edgar to a foreign land far away to marry a wealthy stranger had never crossed Gloucester’s mind and never would. The second was that Gloucester fully intended Edgar to be his successor in the exact same way he would have if she had been a son instead.

The envy that settled in Edmund’s stomach, grotesque and heavy, ruined all chances for uncomplicated affection.

*

Edmund stayed far later in Edgar’s quarters than most would consider appropriate. Their father would likely approve. Any action that could be read as a show of sisterly solidarity from Edmund to Edgar was always applauded by Gloucester. She hoped Edgar saw this exactly as Gloucester would have.

The stars seemed brighter from Edgar’s window than they ever were from Edmund’s. She found it annoying even though she was faintly aware that the only ones responsible for such an occurrence were the gods and her own eyes.

Which opinion, Gloucester’s or Edgar’s, meant more to Edmund she had a difficult time deciding. Gloucester’s view on her mattered because what it could mean for Edmund as a material reality. It was not personal, and if anyone else in the world were in Gloucester’s position over her they would have replaced him entirely in her thoughts. Whereas the impact Egdar’s impressions might have on Edmund’s quality of life were likely easily over estimated, and yet Edmund’s curiosity got the better of her. This one likely was personal. She could not imagine caring if it were someone else in Edgar’s role.

Edgar had a tendency to get philosophical when she should have been sleeping, as evidenced by the exclamation of, “I envy the madwoman.”

“I cannot imagine why,” Edmund smiled, “when the madwoman certainly envies you.”

“No one is as wise as a madwoman,” she was pacing like she wanted to destroy the thick, finely woven rug beneath her feet.

Edmund would wager that Edgar was hardly aware of the rug, taken for granted like every other small piece of privilege life had thrown her way.

“I’ve known you to be quite wise,” Edmund was sitting in her nightgown on the edge of Edgar’s bed, “beyond what any lunatic can imagine.”

“Absolutely,” she said without a trace of irony and unknowingly made Edmund resent her just a little bit more, “but am I able to express it as a madwoman can? Think of their freedom my dearest sister.”

Edmund could not successfully hold in her laughter but fortunately it sounded as if it were coming from a place of mirth rather than of its true origin of disdain, “There is not a single thing in the world that you cannot do. Everything I have ever seen belongs to you.”

Edgar finally stood still. She stayed that way, completely silent for a moment. In a way she reminded Edmund of the portraits lining the halls. When she finally did speak again her voice was soft.

“A madwoman can do something like this,” she leaned down and kissed Edgar open mouthed with a timidity that completely mismatched the passion behind her action, “and I cannot.”

The first thing Edgar ever said to Edmund was a cheery, “I’ve always wanted a little sister,” and now Edmund could not help but look back to that and wonder if this was what she had truly had in mind. She would not put it past someone like her. Innocence was never without its vices. Otherwise it was unsustainable. Incest seemed a suitable sin for Edgar.

Edgar was reasonably pretty. If they had met under different circumstances Edmund could imagine ending up just as attached to her as she was in this world. Except she would have done her best to ignore those feelings because she would have been unlikely to get much out of them. This, on the other hand, was something she could work with.

“If you cannot, then let me,” Edmund returned the kiss.


End file.
